Chain-wrench



(No Model.)

W. H. BROOK.

CHAIN WRENCH. No. 298,442. Patented May 13, 1884.v

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ATENT CHAIN-WRENCH.

QPECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 298,442, dated May 13, 1884.

Application filed February 2, 1884.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. BROOK, a citizen of the United States, residing in Corona, in the town of Newtown, in the county of Queens, in the State of New York, have invented and made useful Improvements in Chain-Wrenches, the nature of which is so clearly, exactly, and fully set forth and illustrated in the following specification and drawings thereto annexed that any skillful person may readily construct and use the same.

The nature of my invention relates to certain improvements in previous chain-wrench invent-ions, Nos/247,987, 250,641, and 254,862, for which Letters Patent have already been duly issued to me; and the object of these improvements is, first, to provide a means for looking or fastening the chain, such that when the wrench is applied underneath or at the side equally as well as at the top of the pipe or other matter gripped, or whenever it chances to be turned bottom-side upward upon the pipe, the chain is always kept in place and prevented from dropping down and out of its fastening-socket; and, second, to re-enforce and further strengthen the jaw where it has a bearing on the lever or handle of the wrench.

The peculiar structure of the local parts of the jaw, by means of which these results are attained, is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the former of which is a plan view of the in terior side of either jaw, and the latter a front view of either face of the wrench-head, while Fig. 3 presents a view in vertical section, showing the chain as locked and the device for preventing the chain from dropping out by its own weight from its receiving-slot whenever the wrench chances to be applied at a point as therein shown, or from any point of the resisting object other than at the top of the same.

It is readily apparent that the same power, when applied to the lever for operating the wrench, is more economically exerted and less quickly exhausted when the direction of the force is downward rather than upward, or, in other words, in the pulling downward or forward instead of a lifting up; hence, in the practical use of the wrench, its place of contact with the object operated upon is preferably such as to obviate as much as possible,

(No model.)

when power is applied, all upward strain. Moreover, such adjustment of the wrench is not infrequently the only one possible to be made-as, for instance, in the manipulation of pipes below the surface of the ground, when the limits of the excavation prepared for their reception are so contracted that the force necessary for operating the wrench must be ap plied at the protruding extremity of the lever and in a direction either downward orlateral. But in the use of my wrenches as heretofore constructed and patented, whenever they were so adjusted to the object to be operated upon as to permit the force applied to have the lateral or downward instead of the upward direction, as above described, it was found, as soon as the lever was drawn past its perpendicular, and the jaw-face, which furnished the slots by which the chain was locked. waslikewise carried down'so as to become the under instead of the upper face, that the chain was liable to slip from its fastening-slots and fall down by its own gravity, and thus render ineffective the operation of the wrench when adjusted to this position. This difficulty I have met and successfully overcome by making the claws or lugsff and k k of such novel structure that the receiving-slots h it formed by them have the peculiarity in shape shown in Fig. 1, and requisite not only to hold the chain in place when locked therein, but to prevent the same from ever falling down and out, whatever be the adjustment of the wrench, Fig. 3, and however far it be turned, even to the performance of a complete revolution upon the pipe or other object operated upon. By the simple substitution, then, of the peculiar hook shaped lugs or claws for holding fast the chain, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, in the place of those of my previously-patented device, which are there made to project perpendicu larly upward, so as to form aright angle with the handle or lever, have I so perfected my wrench as to make the same always an effective and useful instrument for accomplishing the certain object intended. The interior sides or walls of the lugs ff and k 70, which constitute the boundary or limits of the receiving -slot h, are slightly, though perceptibly, beveled, Fig. 2, from their top or frontal extremities downward, to facilitate the passage backward and forward of the locking portion of the chain. The opposite side of the lugs kk is also hollowed out or made sufficiently concave, Fig. 1, to form a like and additional receptacle for holding the chain, whenever the use of the other and regular slot for locking is, in any contingency, found impossible. The chain is at any time readily drawn from its receiving-slot and unlocked by grasping its pendent end and pulling upward, while at the same time the pressure upon the handle is relaxed.

Another useful and peculiar feature of my invention is the extension upward, Fig. 1, of the lug-forming part of the jaws, as at e 6, whereby the jaws are re-enforced and greatly strengthened where they bear upon the lever, and are thus always prepared successfully to resist any pressure exerted at the other extremity of the lever.

The other several parts of the Wrench, as shown in the accompanying drawings, with their peculiar functions, have already been secured to me by Letters Patent heretofore issued.

What I herein claim is- In a chain-wrench, the combination of the lever A, pin D, chain M, and bolt 0 with the jaws B, made with clawsff and lugs k k, of the structure shown, for holding fast the chain when locked, so as to prevent its falling out whatever be the adjustment of the wrench, substantially as described.

Executed at the city of New York this 23d day of January, A. D. 1884.

H. B. HATHAWAY, THOMAS H. BAROVVSKY. 

